Integration - The Name of the Game

As a teacher who is responsible for teaching ALL subject areas (except French), I have had to become a master of integration (just my humble opinion lol).  The amount of curriculum expectations we have to teach keeps growing.  Every time we have new P.D. something else seems to be added on.  The presenters always begin with, "This isn't new ... I'm sure you're already doing this in your classroom ... BUT ... JUST ONE MORE THING ..."  It's a good thing I love finding ways to integrate the subject areas, and the teacher nerd in me loves how I can get multiple subject assessments from one assignment.

This was a fun assignment we did near the end of the year - and the best part was I got a math, media literacy, art, health, and drama mark from it.  We were studying volume and surface area of rectangular and triangular prisms in math.  I paired the students up and gave them two pieces of bristol board.  The pairs had to draw the nets for both prisms, then assemble them.  I set a challenge to see what group could create the prism that had the largest volume and the largest surface area.  When the groups had finished, as a whole class we checked the volume and surface area of all the prisms.

Then the pairs had to turn one of their finished prisms into a cereal or candy box.  They had to include specific information on each of the panels (including nutritional information for health).  When the pairs had completed their product boxes, they had to create a 90 second commercial for their product using one of the methods of advertising we had studied in class.  The commercials were so much fun!  Many of the groups even created jingles (although it wasn't required).  I videotaped the commercials, and the students couldn't wait to watch them.  We even popped popcorn for the event!

Happy Tuesday!!!